Canadian Lawyer InHouse

31 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JULY 2016 31 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JULY 2016 "We have 12,000 facilities today, but two years from now, we'll have twice as many," Guttman says. "It was clear that with the existing approach we might have been able to limp along for a little longer, but it cer- tainly wouldn't scale." When Guttman arrived at the company in 2014, PointClickCare's document storage systems were limited, unorganized, and not integrated. Hard copy libraries were still the primary storage mechanism, with par- tial use of Microsoft's SharePoint document management software, but without any spe- cifi c contract management capabilities. It was diffi cult to access contract information, and the company had no data min- ing or business intelligence capabilities with which to analyze the documents be- yond some basic fi nance fea- tures in the enterprise resource planning system. "We stored and archived every- thing in a secure manner, but it had become this giant, disconnected, and un- manageable warehouse of information," Guttman says. One sign that the company needed a new contract management system was that the legal team couldn't answer other depart- ments' important questions without doing a lot of work. How many customers allow PointClickCare to use their data in ag- gregate for analytic purposes? How many customers have locked-in annual subscrip- tion prices? Without a way for Guttman and his employees to search the company's contracts effi ciently, queries like that could take hours or even days to answer. The company decided to install a contract man- agement system from Contract Logix. This solution enables the company to store all its contracts in a searchable digital repository, such that the legal department will be able to answer questions about contracts quickly and effi ciently. "It gave us the ability to expand our usage over time," Guttman says, explaining why Contract Logix was the chosen platform. "We could start by scanning agreements and capturing some preliminary data and get into more sophisticated usage later, like e- signatures and complex workfl ow support." PointClickCare's legal and fi nance depart- ments are the main users for now, so only about 20 people are on the system at this early stage. But other departments have expressed interest in accessing the software, too, which means the user base is likely to grow. For PointClickCare, the signs that it needed contract management software were clear. The existing system was holding the company back with respect to growth. The current platform also made it nearly impos- sible for the organization to inspect and learn from its contracts. But judging from interviews with people in the contract man- agement software space, most legal execu- tives don't know if or when a new contract management system would make sense for their organizations. In fact, many in-house counsel feel that they have no real need to implement the technology — until it's too late. Too often, they realize they could have used it only after they've experienced a contract disaster, or once their contract volumes have ballooned to the point that spreadsheets and calendar reminders are no longer useful. To help pinpoint the signs that you might need this technology, we canvassed law- yers, consultants, and software providers to develop a clear understanding of when, exactly, in-house teams should make the leap to contract management software. You probably need contract management soft- ware when: YOU CAN'T FIND A CONTRACT "If the business departments are continually trying to source contracts nobody can fi nd, that's a strong signal," says Jason Moyse, manager, legal business solutions at Elevate Services, an alternative legal service sup- plier and software provider. "It's pervasive," he adds, "even among some of the most rec- ognizable companies." When you have to scramble to fi nd a con- tract, you waste time — which means you waste resources, both human and fi nancial. By contrast, with contract management software, you store all your contracts in a digitally searchable repository, making it easier for you and your team members to fi nd documents with just a few keystrokes. That saves both time and money. Moyse points out that the software gives you version control as well, so you know the contract saved in the system — rather than the version, say, saved on your colleague's laptop — is the most up-to-date iteration. YOU CAN'T ANALYZE YOUR CONTRACTS Joe Milstone is the founder of and practice manager at Axiom Cognition, a technology- focused legal services fi rm. He points out

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